


Lost and Found

by Charlotte_Lancer



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angel Bonds (Supernatural), Angel Soul Bonds (Supernatural), Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canonical Character Death, Dreamsharing, Established Relationship, Fix-It, Grief/Mourning, M/M, Not Beta Read, POV Adam Milligan, Temporary Character Death, The Empty (Supernatural), episode tag: s15e19 Inherit the Earth, this is definitely going to get jossed on thursday but for now nothing directly contradicts it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:07:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27548809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Charlotte_Lancer/pseuds/Charlotte_Lancer
Summary: Adam wakes up on a beach with no phone, no car, and no Michael.[Edit 11/16/20: Fixed minor continuity issue in chapter 5.]
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester (implied) - Relationship, Eileen Leahy/Sam Winchester (mentioned), Michael/Adam Milligan
Comments: 36
Kudos: 180





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Because Adam's going to get Michael back, one way or another.

When Adam suddenly finds himself on a beach he’s never seen before, with no memory of leaving the church that he and Michael were hiding out in, his first thought is somehow, someway, this is the Winchester’s fault.

His second thought is less a coherent sentence, and more an overwhelming shot of panic and dread as he realizes he can’t feel Michael, at all. After a thousand years he’s alone in his body, and it feels  _ wrong  _ in ways that he can’t put to words.

“Michael? Michael? Michael!” He runs up the beach, looking into the woods and the water, shouting out loud and through prayer, and hoping against all odds that Michael is here, that Michael is  _ somewhere _ out there.

A voice calls out to him as he searches the path leading away from the lakes. It’s rough, and vaguely familiar- something he’s heard in Michael’s memories, not his own.

“Come back for another round? Dying once wasn’t enough for you? Or are you here to beg some more?” The man is sneering up at him, glaring through the blood on his face and talking like he knows him, and it starts to dawn on Adam just who he’s come across. “Because you’re too late, Michael, the Winchesters already got what they wanted.”

“Chuck.” The god that Sam and Dean and Castiel were trying so desperately to defeat. Laying bloody, defeated, on the side of a road in the middle of nowhere.

Chuck looks at him for a moment, before realizing. “You must be Adam,” he says with a smile that makes Adam feel like he’s going to be sick for the first time in centuries, “You know, you should be thanking me. I freed you from that dead weight that’s been hanging around your body for the last thousand or so years.”

And then Adam is livid, the anger coursing through him stronger than he’s ever felt in his life. “You killed him!” He says, as he kicks the smile straight off of Chuck’s face, so hard that Chuck rolls over with the force of it.

But then Chuck’s laughing, dragging a hand up to wipe the blood from his mouth. “Killed by a Winchester after all. Guess the story gets it’s end after all.”

“No. For some  _ fucking  _ reason, which I cannot comprehend, Michael still loved you, and I don’t go around killing people’s loved ones. I’m not  _ you _ .” He thinks Michael would forgive him another kick, however, and so he delivers a solid jab to Chuck’s side before turning and continuing up the road, leaving Chuck behind without a second thought.

……………………………………………..

After a walk that could have been twenty minutes or ten hours- nothing feels right without Michael in his head, not even time- Adam reaches a town, and manages to beg use of a phone from a gas station clerk. With no cell phone, no money, no id, no transport, and no Michael, he’s not seeing a lot of options, and it’s with great annoyance that he forces himself to dial the number that the Winchesters had given him last time they spoke.

“I take it your beach trip with Michael went well for you,” Adam says when the phone picks up, trying hard to bite back the anger and sound at least semi-civil. He doesn’t want to be left stranded, after all. Again.

There’s a pause on the other end of the line, and then,

“Adam?” Dean says, disbelief clear in his voice.

“The one and only,” Adam says, before immediately regretting his choice of words. He pauses to take a breath, then adds, “Michael’s- I can’t find him.”

“We’ll come get you,” Dean says, voice final. “Stay put.”

The call disconnects before Adam can respond, but the lack of surprise in Dean’s response confirms far too much for Adam’s liking. He feels too cold all of a sudden, even in the overheated air of the small gas station, and after he hands the phone back to the bored-looking clerk, he wraps his arms around himself, missing the familiar warmth of Michael’s grace entwined with his soul.


	2. Chapter 2

Adam’s sitting on a beat-up picnic table next to the gas station, nursing a bottle of water that the clerk had given to him after taking pity on his situation, when the Impala rolls up and stops beside him.

Dean gets out and looks him over with a small frown.

“You look beat, man,” Dean says, which Adam imagines is probably the understatement of the century, even if he had tried to clean up a bit in the gas station bathroom’s sink.

“Oh, you know, got half of me ripped out, woke up on a beach with no idea where I was, walked until I found a town, then sat around a gas station for a few hours. Hasn’t really been a great day.” He’s more exhausted than he can remember ever being before, and the hollow feeling in his chest only hurts more and more as the reality sets in that Michael is gone. “Kicked Chuck’s teeth in, though. That part was okay.”

Adam tries not to flinch as Dean claps him on the shoulder and says, “Good kid.”

He’s still not used to anyone but Michael touching him, but he lets Dean lead him over to the car, concealing his surprise as he’s guided towards shotgun.

“Where’s Sam?” he asks, only half caring about the answer.

“Checking on his girlfriend. Chuck killed every human on Earth. Jack brought them back.”

Adam can tell there’s more to the story than Dean’s telling him, but he doesn’t bother to push. Once he finds a way to get Michael back, none of this will matter, and they’ll hopefully never see either of the Winchesters again.

Except...

“Just the humans? He didn’t bring back the angels Chuck killed?” He doesn’t ask who Jack is. Doesn’t care, beyond whether they might be able to bring Michael back.

Dean tenses. “Angels go… somewhere else, when they die. The Empty.” And then Dean gives an explanation of this Empty that raises more questions than it answers, and leaves Adam wishing that Michael were here just to explain this cosmic nonsense to him. “So it’s more complicated,” Dean continues, “But we’re working on it.”

“Good,” Adam says, already trying to come up with back up plans for when the Winchester’s Plan A inevitably goes horribly wrong.

Dean gives him a strange look, and the silence drags out before he finally speaks.

“Michael was on the wrong side in the end, kid. He-”

“Don’t call me that,” he snaps, sharper than he intended. “And I don’t care who’s side you think he was on, I’m not giving up until I get him back.” After a thousand years Michael has become almost a part of him, essential to his very being, and Adam’s not about to abandon him on Dean’s word.

Dean pulls the car onto the side of the road and parks it, which Adam thinks is a bit of an overreaction.

“Adam,” Dean says, strangely hesitant, “Why are your eyes glowing?”

Adam whips his head around to look at himself in the rear view mirror. Dean’s right- his eyes are glowing a slight blue, a pale imitation of the color he’s grown to associate with Michael, and he can almost feel the touch of the tiniest spark of grace if he concentrates hard enough. He stares into his reflection, mind screaming out for Michael, desperate to take this as a sign that Michael’s out there somewhere, but no response comes, and too soon both the glow and the feeling fade, and he’s left looking at his own eyes, shining only with tears that he quickly blinks away.

Dean’s still looking at him oddly, but this time it’s less confusion and more calculation, like Adam’s a wild animal that might attack at any moment.

“You’re not Adam,” he states flatly. “Adam didn’t have  _ glowing archangel eyes _ . What are you?”

Adam can see Dean reaching for something, probably a knife, but neither of them make any attempt to get out of the car.

Adam waits until he can trust his voice again before speaking. “I’m Adam.” The hollowness in his chest suddenly feels like it’s expanded tenfold, and it hurts to breath as he gathers his thoughts for the best way to explain this to Dean without getting himself stabbed.

“We were bonded,” he finally says, voice still rougher than he’d really like, but if Dean notices it doesn’t show. “And sharing a body. After a few hundred years of that, plus the fact that neither of us was bothering to keep up any walls between us, the border between grace and soul starts to get a bit blurry. There’s some of Michael’s grace mixed in with my soul, and some of my soul was-  _ is still _ \- mixed into Michael.” He brings a hand up over his chest, rubbing at where it hurts most.

“So, what, you shacked up with an archangel and now you’ve got his powers? I ain’t buying it.”

Adam doesn’t bother to answer, just opens the door and practically launches himself out of the car. And it’s a good thing that no one happens to be driving by at that moment, because Adam doesn’t bother to check before walking straight out onto the street.

“I loved him,” Adam yells, spinning around to face the car, “and you got him killed, so I really don’t care what you’re ‘buying’ right now.” Adam can feel the spark again, and one look at Dean’s face only confirms that his eyes are glowing again. He tries harder to hold onto it this time, tries to pour more emotion into keeping them lit, and the spark feels warmer than it did before.

But even then it fades as his anger does, too tampered by exhaustion and grief to keep it burning like he’d like to.

Dean looks strangely gutted by his words, but he makes no protest as Adam climbs back into the car, and they sit in tense silence all the way back to the bunker.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm hoping to have this done before Thursday's episode thoroughly josses it, so expect more updates soon.

The bunker is empty when they arrive- Dean puts him through a number of tests before actually letting him in, including splashing him with holy water that Adam is pretty sure wouldn't have done anything even if he was Michael pretending to be Adam- and the silence is deafening in it's omnipresence. Every corner of the giant space screams out to him its soundless cry, and he finds himself wishing for a noise, any noise, just to stop the crushing loneliness in his mind.

Dean shows Adam to a guest room, points out the bathroom and the kitchen along the way in clipped sentences that make Adam wish for a conversation, an argument, anything to keep the silence at bay, but too quickly he disappears to somewhere Adam doesn't know, leaving him alone with his thoughts in the quiet bedroom. 

There's an old radio in the corner of the room, and Adam turns it on to the first station he can find, some AM talk show he's never heard of, before collapsing down onto the bed and falling into a restless sleep to the sounds of two women extolling the virtues of some technology that he’s never heard of before.

……………………………………………………………

_ When he sleeps, he sees Michael, standing asleep surrounded by a black void. _

_ The Empty, or something else that matches the description down to a tee. He spares no thought to the fact that he shouldn’t be here, no thought to the danger of this place, and focuses all his thoughts on Michael. _

_ He calls out to him, “Michael!”, but there’s no response, no sign of Michael waking. He swallows down hard, unwilling to be deterred. _

_ “Michael, please, it’s me, Adam,” he tries again. Desperation leaks into his voice, and he tries to move forward towards his archangel, but the distance seems to be infinite between them. He runs until his legs burn, and his breath comes heavy, but Michael is still out of his reach, still so far away despite being so close. _

_ “Michael!” he yells, voice ragged, “Michael, wake up!” _

_ Adam thinks he can see the barest hint of a reaction on Michael’s face, see the corner of his mouth twitching up into the start of the soft smile that Adam loves so much, but it’s gone before Adam can be sure he didn’t imagine it, can be sure that he isn’t just seeing what he wants to see. He holds onto the image anyway, renewed hope filling his heart as he feels the air around him start to shift. _

_ “I love you, Michael, and I’m going to find a way to get you back. Just hang on a little longer.” He waves goodbye even though he knows Michael can’t see him. He hopes Michael can hear him, though, and he adds another, “I’ll be back,” as the dream fades out around him. _

…………………………………………………..

Adam wakes in a cold sweat, chilled to the bone from his dream. The dream felt too real; it feels like he’s just had Michael taken from him for the second time in as many days, and it takes him a long moment just to ground himself before he can even begin to process what’s just happened.

He sure it was real, so sure he’d stake anything on it. He could feel Michael’s presence again in a way that had started to sooth the gnawing ache in his chest, just for a moment, before it was ripped away from him again in a way that leaves him with nothing but cold dread and despair.

He sits up in the bed, and presses a hand to his forehead, trying to rub away the headache that he can feel forming.

It’s the first headache he’s had in over a millennia, and the reason that it’s even currently possible for him to get one that bothers him far more than the actual ache ever could. Fuck, he wants Michael back so much. Needs him in a way that he can’t even put to words, could never hope to describe to someone who hasn’t felt exactly what he’s feeling right now.

There are tears forming in his eyes again that have nothing to do with the pain, and he can feel one as it runs down his cheek, but he refuses to acknowledge it, refuses to cry for someone who’ll be back. Who  _ has  _ to come back, because there’s no other outcome that Adam can accept.

After so long with Michael by his side, he refuses to even consider spending the rest of his life without him there, without the constant familiar presence inside of him. He knows his eyes are glowing again, can feel the spark of grace behind his eyes that’s starting to become a familiar sensation, and he blinks in confusion as his headache goes away just as suddenly as it came on.

_ Oh.  _ Apparently Michael’s grace wants to protect him even when Michael’s not here to do it himself, and suddenly he’s laughing, a pained, broken laugh that’s half sob, closer to the mania of exhaustion than to joy, and he drops his head down into his hands, trying to calm himself.

“Thanks, Michael,” he says, hoping that Michael can somehow still hear him through the spark of shared grace that still binds them. His voice sounds horrible even to his own ears, but he feels slightly better than he had before, and right now he’ll take any win he can get. There aren’t many of those to go around these days, it seems.

After a long moment, he glances at his watch. It could be 3 in the morning, or it could be 3 in the afternoon- the windowless rooms of the bunker make it impossible to tell, and he’s not even completely sure that his watch is still set right anyway- but he decides it doesn’t matter anyway, and he pushes himself out of bed, standing with a bone-deep tiredness that sleep seems to have done nothing to curb.

He passes no one on his way to the kitchen, and the clock on the microwave confirms that it is the middle of the night. He starts a pot of coffee anyway, hoping that with enough caffeine he might start to feel alive again.


	4. Chapter 4

An hour later Dean finds him still at the kitchen table, drinking his fourth mug of black coffee with the determined resignation of someone who knows their efforts won’t work, but is going to see them through anyway.

“Sam’s back,” Dean says, making his way over to the pot of coffee that’s surely gone cold by now, “got in about an hour ago. He’s doing some more research in the library, now.” Dean peers into the half-empty coffee pot, then glances back over at Adam. “Might want to eat something, there, man. When’s the last time you ate anything, anyway?”

The concern in Dean’s voice surprises him, and Adam finds himself answering more honestly than he would have liked.

“I had a burger when we got out of the cage. And fries. Nothing since then.”

“Shit, that was weeks ago. I’m making eggs. You eat eggs, right?” Dean doesn’t actually wait for a response before turning the stove on, and setting down a pan to heat up.

Adam nods anyway- now that he’s reminded of it, he  _ does  _ feel pretty hungry, which is a trip in and of itself- and politely pretends not to notice when Dean prepares himself a cup of coffee that’s more liquor than actual coffee.

The eggs end up being good, though. Better than he was expecting, and he chews them methodically, bite after bite, trying to focus on the taste of the eggs rather than the dream that he’s mostly sure wasn’t actually a dream at all and the weariness that he still feels in every fiber of his being.

Sam comes in when Adam is halfway through his plate, book tucked under his arm and looking so happy that Adam can’t bear to look at him, has to stare back down at his eggs instead. He drains the rest of his coffee while Sam gives a status update to Dean. There’s barely any progress to speak of, and he hears Dean refilling his own mug- straight liquor this time, not even a splash of coffee to maintain the illusion- as Sam goes on about the complications of trying to raise someone from the Empty now that it’s awake to fight back.

And then the two of them are arguing over something, Adam’s not quite following what, he’s too tired, so tired that he can barely keep his eyes open, can barely sit upright in his chair. And then his eyes slip closed, and he’s falling forward, and the last thing he feels is someone grabbing him before he can hit the table.

………………………………………………………….

_ He’s in the Empty again, but he’s closer to Michael this time, close enough to touch, so he reaches out and lays a hand against Michael’s cheek, relieved beyond belief just to be this close again. _

_ “Michael,” he says, “Come on, wake up, please, you have to wake up.” He strokes his thumb against Michael’s face, caressing, hoping to prod him into consciousness gently. _

_ Michael stirs, and Adam steps closer, pressing himself against Michael in a way that’s both comforting and disconcerting. He’s not used to being able to touch Michael like this, not used to feeling him outside of his own body, and he’s not sure why he’s able to here, but he’ll take any advantage, any reassurance, that he can get. _

_ “Michael, I know you’re in there. I need you to wake up so that I can bring you back. Please.” _

_ Slowly, so slowly that it feels like an eternity passes, Michael’s eyes open, staring straight at Adam with a piercing intensity that sends a jolt of pure energy down Adam’s spine. _

_ “Michael,” he gasps out, letting go of a breath he didn’t know he was holding. “Thank fuck. Come on, I need to get you out of here.” He drops his hand down to grab Michael’s, unwilling to lose the point of contact between them. _

_ Michael looks around in confusion, taking in their surroundings, or, well, the absence of them, before turning back to Adam. _

_ “This is the Empty. You shouldn’t be able to be here. How?” Michael can’t hide his emotions from Adam, even when they aren’t sharing a body, and Adam can see the fear behind his eyes as he speaks. _

_ “I don’t know,” Adam says, “I think it’s our bond. But we need to get you out of here now. Hold on to me, so I can take you with me.” _

_ Michael doesn’t question him, just wraps his arms around Adam and holds tight in what Adam is pretty sure is their first actual hug. Sharing a body with your partner makes the traditional benchmarks of a relationship a bit hard to go by, but Adam wouldn’t change what they have for the world, and he knows Michael wouldn’t either. _

_ Adam holds onto Michael just as tightly, and presses a kiss to Michael’s mouth even as he wills himself to wake up. No sense in wasting an opportunity, even if it’s come about in a way that Adam wishes had never happened. _

_ But then Michael starts to fade with the rest of the Empty, even as they cling so tightly it hurts, and- _

And then Adam jolts awake in his borrowed room, alone, with no Michael in sight or in his head, and this time he doesn’t even try to stop himself from crying.

If Sam doesn't come through with that spell soon, he doesn’t know what he’s going to do. He’s not sure how much more of this he can take. The wound in his soul impossible to heal, ripping itself open again every time he wakes up, and he almost wishes he could stay asleep forever, that he could stay in the Empty with Michael until the Winchester’s found a way to drag them out. At least time there seemed to pass at the same rate as time on Earth, and he and Michael had managed for hundreds of years in the cage with nothing but each other, and, really, what could the Empty throw at them that Hell hadn’t tried already?

He feels more awake, at least, now, and less like he could pass out at any moment. With a renewed sureness that what he’s seeing is real, and a strong sense that what he’s seen is important, useful to his goal, he shuts off the still-running radio, and sets out of his room to find Sam and Dean.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Probably two more chapters to go after this, maybe three. Thank you so much for all your lovely comments, it makes me so happy to know that you guys like this story :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit 11/16/20: Fixed the continuity issue where Sam's book was in Latin in one sentence and Enochian in the next.

As soon as he’d explained to Sam what was going on- and convinced him that it wasn’t a grief-induced hallucination using a flash of his eyes- Sam had dragged him into the library for more research. He wasn’t sure how long ago that had been, but by now there were well over a dozen books spread out across the table, and print-outs from Sam’s laptop covering every single space in between them.

Adam is idly reading over one of the few English print-outs when Sam suddenly looks up, beaming.

“I’ve got it!,” he says, shoving a book into Adam’s field of view. “Look at this, if we can-”

“I can’t read this language, Sam,” he interrupts, squinting down at the page, “I’m not even sure what language it _is_.” It’s not written with the same alphabet as English, though some of the words seem vaguely familiar, like something he’d seen years ago and never again, but now he can’t place it.

Sam looks caught off guard for a split second before saying, “It’s Enochian. Michael never…?” Sam asks hesitantly.

“I can speak it, Sam, but there wasn’t exactly a lot of reading material in the cage.” Sam flinches at his words, though whether from guilt or his own memories of hell Adam can’t tell. “Anyway, what does it say?”

“Your bond with Michael? It’s confusing the Empty into thinking you’re one person. That’s why it never tried to attack you when you’ve shown up, because it doesn’t even know that you’re there. You’ve already weakened the barrier into the Empty enough to get yourself in and out, if we can just juice up your powers a bit more- and I think we’ve got the right supplies for that spell already- you should be able to walk right in, grab Michael and Cas, and hop back out before the Empty even realizes something’s wrong.”

It sounds like a solid plan to Adam, but he’ll be the first to admit that he doesn’t know a lot about the Empty, and he’s not sure he likes the ‘should’ that was in there.

“Let me talk to Michael,” he says, “He knows more about the Empty than I do, and I’m not committing to anything before I run it by him.”

“Yes, of course. You go do that,” Sam says, almost shooing him out of the library, “I’ll start making a tracker to find Cas, I’m sure we’re going to need it.”

Adam refrains from rolling his eyes at Sam’s certainty that Michael’s going to agree to this plan on the grounds that he’s barely restraining himself from jumping into this plan head first with the same enthusiasm as Sam.

He’ll take just about any chance to get Michael back, obviously, but that doesn’t mean that he has to be reckless about it.

………………………………………………………………….

Back in his room, Adam lays on the bed with the radio turned on again, tuned again to another talk show, and tries to will himself to fall asleep.

_“Adam!” Michael calls out when he spots Adam coming towards him. Michael runs towards Adam, and they meet halfway, crashing together into a crushing hug that has them swaying unsteady on their feet._

_“Michael, we’ve found a way to get you out. Sam found a way to weaken the barrier between here and Earth. It won’t work long, but it should be enough to get out of here.”_

_Michael nods, considering. “Weakening the barrier further than you’ve already done isn’t ideal, but I can’t see another way. Once we’re on the other side I can seal it properly again, but everything will have to be done quickly.”_

_“Great,” Adam says, shifting slightly. He’s not quite sure how Michael will react to Sam’s request that they save Castiel- Castiel_ had _killed them, after all- and he doesn’t quite know how to phrase that part of the plan._

_Michael can tell he’s holding something back, though, and after a moment he pulls back from Adam to ask,_

_“What is it, Adam?”_

_“We have to get Castiel out, too. I don’t think Sam and Dean won’t do the spell unless we save him, and I can’t pull it off alone.”_

_Michael laughs, a tired sound with no humor in it. “I should have known. Where the Winchesters go, so goes Castiel. They’re a well matched set of trouble.”_

_“But you’ll do it?” Adam asks, stroking a hand down Michael’s back, “Because as much as I’d be willing to spend eternity with you here- and I_ would _, Michael, I love you, don’t give me that look- dragging your little brother out and dumping him on the Winchesters seems like a small price to pay for getting you out of here.”_

_“I would never allow you to spend a moment longer here than is absolutely necessary. The Empty is far too dangerous for a human.” Adam swears he can see the faintest outline of Michael’s wings as he speaks, protectiveness practically radiating out from him. “But finding Castiel without alerting The Empty to our actions will be difficult. Our bond is the only reason you were able to find me so easily, and I haven’t seen any others in my time here.”_

_“That’s on Sam and Dean to figure out. Sam’s working on some locator spell or charm or something- I don’t really understand it, but it will do the work to find Castiel. All we have to do is grab him and get out. And the Empty can’t see me. Your grace, my soul, they’re mixed together so tightly that it can’t sense me.” Adam concentrates hard, makes his eyes light up with a glow of blue so bright that he can see it reflected in Michael’s. “Please, Michael, let me rescue you.” Adam takes Michael’s hand in his, a silent plea for Michael to agree._

_“Alright,” Michael says, leaning his head forward to press his forehead to Adam’s, “I trust you. Now go, or the Empty_ will _notice us talking.”_

_Adam gives Michael’s hand one last quick squeeze as he sends himself back into the bunker, ready to deliver the news that will allow him to rescue Michael._


	6. Chapter 6

“Michael agreed to the plan,” Adam says, walking into the workroom where he’s finally found Sam. “Get in quick, grab Michael and Castiel, and get back out. Michael’s not a huge fan of weakening the barrier even more, but he says he can fix it back up once we’re back here.”

“That’s good,” Sam says, bent over a table where he’s tying a small corked vial onto a long cord. Whatever is in the vial is glowing strangely, almost metallic in it’s shine. “I’m almost finished with the locator spell, and it won’t take more than an hour for Dean and I to prep the dungeon for the spell, so we’re ready any time you are.”

Adam blinks at the casual mention of a dungeon, but makes a deliberate choice to ignore that in favor of checking his watch. It’s close to noon, now, and he’s eager to get this done as soon as possible.

“Half past one?” He suggests, and Sam nods, focussing back onto the elaborate knot winding around the vial.

Adam leaves him to it, and heads back to his room, trying not to count the minutes until he’ll have Michael back.

……………………………………………………..

In the end he finds his way down to the dungeon- and he’s still not over that, the  _ dungeon _ \- a few minutes before things are ready. Sam and Dean are painting markings onto every wall of the room, symbols crammed in so close that Adam can barely make out one from the other, and there’s a wide circle of blood that Adam sincerely hopes isn’t human lining the floor.

Adam adds that to the growing number of things he really doesn’t want to know about, along with the fact that Sam and Dean both have shotguns strapped to their backs for some reason, and drags his gaze up onto a random symbol that he doesn’t recognize. At least the walls seem to be done in normal paint.

“We’ll be done in just a second,” Sam says. “Sit in the middle of that circle in front of you.”

Adam does, which makes it a fair bit harder to ignore the blood, but he gives it his best shot anyway, and closes his eyes as he waits for the spell to be ready.  _ I’ll be there soon, Michael _ , he prays, not sure if Michael can hear him in the Empty,  _ wish us luck. _

When he opens his eyes again, Sam’s leaning down towards him, reaching out to set the corded vial around his neck.

“When you're ready to get Cas,” Sam says, pointing at the vial of mysterious light, “uncork that. It should lead you and Michael right to him. When you’re ready, I’ll activate the spell, and you concentrate on getting yourself into the Empty. Dean and I will stay here to take care of anything that tries to take advantage and come through while you’re gone”

Well, that explained the guns, anyway. Adam nods, carefully adjusting the vial so that it’s in easy reach.

“Start it up,” he says, the faintest touch of a smile gracing his lips, and then he closes his eyes again, relaxing as much as possible on the hard floor, and clears his mind, trying to drift into unconsciousness as quickly as possible.

_ “Hi, Michael,” Adam says as he appears in the Empty for what he hopes is the last time. “Ready to go?” he asks, reaching out to clasp hands with Michael. _

_ “Yes,” Michael says, stepping in close. “How are we going to find Castiel?” _

_ Adam looks down at the vial, which is glowing brighter now than it was before. “We follow this,” he says, and reaches up with his free hand to push the cork out with his thumb. _

_ The glow exits the vial- and Adam still can’t tell what it is, it doesn’t look like any grace he’s ever seen but he can’t imagine what else could be capable of leading them to Castiel- and spreads into a small cloud in front of them. _

_ It pulses twice, as if urging them to follow, and then starts moving, drifting purposefully towards it’s target. _

_ They follow, walking quietly hand-in-hand behind the cloud for some time before it changes directions for the first time, leading them in a half circle to avoid something that Adam can’t quite make out. _

_ From Michael’s reaction, though, an expression of disgust that Adam has only rarely seen, it’s probably for the best that he doesn’t see it. _

_ Michael holds his hand tighter after that, and they continue walking in a straight line for a long time without another detour. _

_ Adam isn’t sure how long it is before the cloud finally stops again, but it does, stopping abruptly and then pulsing again, before dipping down to illuminate the sleeping form of Castiel, lying prone on the ground. _

_ They both bend down, each grabbing Castiel with one hand to haul him upright, and then adjusting him carefully so that Michael is taking more of his weight without breaking the contact between any of them. They’re careful not to wake Castiel as they move him- the Empty has left Michael alone so far, another effect of the bond as far as Sam could find, but Castiel has no such protection, and Sam had stressed that the Empty had a particular grudge against Castiel, and unusually strong reactions to Castiel being conscious in within it’s realm. _

_ The cloud dissipates, dissolving into nothingness as it’s job is completed, leaving the three of them standing in the dark of the Empty. _

_ “Let’s go,” Adam says, focussing his mind on waking up, on their impending return to the dungeon, and within seconds he feels the Empty start to dissolve around him, this time with two hands still gripped tightly in his own. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only one more chapter to go!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for sticking with this! Here's the final chapter, hope you enjoy :)

They leave the Empty as two separate bodies, but as they’re transported out, Adam feels Michael rushing back into him, feels Michael’s grace twining around his soul and twisting together so fully that he can barely tell where he ends and Michael begins. It feels right, he finally feels whole again, in a way he hasn’t felt since before he woke up on a beach with the love of his life ripped from his very being, and he can’t help the sign of contentment that escapes him as they return to the bunker.

They set Castiel down gently, still asleep despite the strange sensation of the trip through worlds, and move aside, taking a few cautious steps as they settle into their body together.

They ignore Sam and Dean rushing over to Castiel, who’s starting to come to as the sounds of Sam and Dean setting down their weapons echo through the dungeon. Adam’s too caught up in the euphoria of having Michael back inside of him, back where he belongs, to care at all about anything else right now, and he can tell innately that Michael feels the same way. The others barely spare him and Michael a glance anyway, and neither he nor Michael are bothered in the slightest.

_ Michael, _ he thinks, wrapping his arms around himself in the approximation of a hug that feels more natural to them than anything after centuries of sharing a body.  _ Oh, fuck, Michael, I’m so glad you’re back. _

**_I’m here,_** Michael responds, projecting through the vivid connection that Adam missed so much, and Adam feels the phantom of Michael’s wings wrapping around him, enveloping him in the sensations of warmth and safety and love, and, oh fuck, Adam’s knees feel weak with the sheer strength of what he’s feeling, what he can feel Michael feeling, and they sink down to the ground, too wrapped up in each other to care about the chill of the concrete, or the blood still painting the floor. **_Adam, my Adam._**

They sit together as one, basking in each other’s presence, for so long that their clothes stick to the now-dry blood on the floor as they stand up. Sam, Dean, and Castiel don’t even notice them moving, still tangled together in a three-part hug of their own, and Adam averts his eyes from what he’s sure they’d rather be a private moment.

**_Adam_ ** **,** Michael thinks, projecting confusion at Adam even as he repairs the barrier with barely a thought,  **_Is this the Winchester’s bunker?_ **

_ Yeah. It seemed like the safest place to do the spell, especially if something else tried to follow us back through from the Empty.  _ Adam projected the memory of the warding sigils being applied to the walls, and of Sam and Dean acting as armed guards as Adam made his attempt to fall into the Empty one last time.

**_I didn’t think it was possible. I thought-_ **

_ What, Michael?  _ The emotions coming from Michael are a jumbled mess, confusion and joy and disbelief overlapping each other, all competing for the top spot in their mind.

**_You were dead, Adam. I didn’t think it was possible for them to win, I tried to appeal to Chuck, anything to make him bring you back, but I couldn’t reason with him._ ** Michael lets the memories pour through their bond, not hiding anything from Adam.  **_The nephilim, he raised you?_ ** There’s grief streaked through Michael’s thoughts, and Adam can practically feel the despair radiating from Michael’s memories. Adam sees them all, sees everything Michael had done between Adam’s death and his own, and tries to pull himself tighter against Michael, twisting them closer together until the tenseness in Michael begins to loosen.

_ He brought everyone back, I guess. I don’t really know everything that happened, I was more concerned with getting you back.  _ He pushes forward the memory of the ride back to the bunker, bringing snippets of conversation to the forefront of his mind.  _ Wait, if you thought I was still dead, where did you think we were going when we left the Empty? _

**_I didn’t know. I didn’t care, as long as it was with you._ **

Adam doesn’t have the right words to respond to that, nothing he could say could capture the overwhelming surge of love he feels for Michael right now, and instead he doesn’t even try to find them, just projects the feeling at Michael, and relishes in the wave of love that Michael projects in return.

……………………………………………..

After a while, when things have calmed down a bit and everyone has migrated up to the kitchen of the bunker for what must be the tensest lunch of any of their lives- Michael refuses to come out at all, hiding inside their head and staying quiet to everyone who isn’t Adam- Adam decides they’ve stayed long enough that it won’t be a grave offense to cut and run.

“Well, it’s certainly been interesting, but we really should get going now,” Adam says, standing up from the chair he and Michael are occupying, “We wouldn’t want to impose on your hospitality any longer.” Michael is laughing outright at his forced politeness, but Adam ignores him. He’s aware he sounds like a character from an old movie, but it’s been a while since he’s interacted with anyone other than Michael, and too polite seems like the option least likely to make any new enemies.

Dean doesn’t detach himself from Castiel’s side- they’re sitting so close that Adam half-expects one of them to give in and just sit on the other’s lap-, but Sam stands and steps forward to put out a hand for them to shake.

“Thanks,” Sam says, “from all of us. I don’t know how long this would have taken without your help.”

Adam takes the proffered hand, shakes it in what he hopes is a normal manner. “Same. From both of us. I’d say see you soon, or something, but things tend to go horribly wrong when you’re nearby, so, uh, have a good life, and good luck.” Michael’s laughter in his head is becoming contagious, and he has to put effort into suppressing the smile that’s threatening to break out on his face.

Sam takes his words in stride, though, just nodding and saying, “Good luck to you two, too,” before raising his hand in an approximation of a wave.

Dean and Castiel mimic the gesture behind him, and Adam returns it before turning to walk out of the door, as fast as he can without it seeming like he’s running away.

**_But you are running away_ ** , Michael comments, amusement clear in his voice.

_ Yeah, well, I don’t see you putting up much protest, _ he jabs back, fondness coming through too strongly to even pretend to be annoyed.

**_That’s because I have none_ ** , Michael thinks,  **_I find your brothers… tolerable, at best._ **

Adam laughs, out loud this time, and replies,  _ I couldn’t agree more. _

Once they’re well away from the entryway, outside of the bunker, Adam stops, and pauses to let Michael take control of their body. He’s missed this feeling, the feeling of being completely enveloped by Michael, wings stretching out behind them as they prepare to fly, and it feels good in a way that runs deep, that drowns out the last remnants of everything he’s felt in the last day and makes so happy that he’s sure the very universe itself can feel it.

_ Where to now, Michael? _

**_Wherever you want, kid._ **

They disappear with a smile on their face, off to enjoy their hard-won freedom together.

**Author's Note:**

> Come scream about Midam with me on tumblr at https://the-green-maiden.tumblr.com/


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